MOVIE REVIEW: Documentary about climate change is strictly partisan

There’s no confusing what this documentary is about, or what side of the issue it’s going to take, right from the opening frames. We see shots of utter devastation, including parched earth, floods, tornadoes, and forest fires.

There’s no confusing what this documentary is about, or what side of the issue it’s going to take, right from the opening frames. We see shots of utter devastation, including parched earth, floods, tornadoes, and forest fires. Those are immediately followed by a question: “Are severe drought conditions that cause fires our fault?” And by a statement: “The problem is apt to get a lot worse.”

Writer-director-producer-narrator Craig Scott Rosebraugh minces no words in this hard-hitting study of so many things going wrong with our environment. He feels that climate change denialists are morons, and he backs that up with thoughtful words from people he believes in, people who offer proof that we’re in trouble and are headed for a lot more.

Dr. Michael Mann, from the Penn State Earth System Science Center, explains how climate change is playing out in real time and is affecting our weather. Dr. Pieter Tans, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, wonders how, with our changing climate, we’ll be able to grow enough food in the future. Rosebraugh’s parade of scientists goes on and on, each one focusing on different imminent disasters if something isn’t done.

Then he lets out the loonies. There’s Myron Ebell, from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who insists the only reason for the astounding amount of ice breaking up at the North Pole is because there’s so much sunlight up there. Or Americans for Prosperity’s David Koch, who believes that global warming is simply a case of alarmism. Let’s not forget the stalwart anti-environmentalists including Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O’Reilly, who are on campaigns of repeating their messages so much and so loud, some people start to believe it. One of the worst offenders presented here is Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, purveyor of the theory that “global warming is a hoax” and that “climate scientists are in it only for the money.” Wait, I forgot to mention the “scientist” from the Heartland Institute who blames the whole problem on sunspots. This parade, too, goers on and on.

To be fair, there’s not a lot of new information here, although the film is more entertaining, from a snarky perspective, than Al Gore’s Oscar-winning “An Inconvenient Truth.” That film, for all of its good intentions and importance, featured a few too many graphs and charts. This one has a different problem, in that it tries to get too personal by putting teary eyed people who have lost their homes in fires on-camera. Rosebraugh even goes so far as to take the Michael Moore route by trying to get interviews with David Koch and ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson.

One of the best moments is when we see a clip of an unnamed 1950s dramatic film in which a scientist character warns, “Our atmosphere is getting warmer. It’s been calculated that a few degrees rise in the Earth’s temperature would melt the polar icecaps.” Look at that date again: 1950s. Nothing was done then, not much is being done now. Seriously, how many more of these frightening and sobering documentaries have to be made before some action is taken?